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Kyle Drabek pitched well, again, and Brad Emaus hit a three run home run in the first inning to lead the Fisher Cats to victory.  Dunedin also won in a pitchers duel that went ten innings.  Brad Mills was not at his best and Las Vegas lost.  Lansing gave up eight runs in the eighth and lost also.


Colorado Springs 5  Las Vegas 1

Brad Mills was not at his best on Friday night.  He gave up a solo home run in the first.  In the fourth Chris Iannetta doubled and scored on a single to make it 2-1.  Iannetta singled again to lead off the sixth and Mills walked the next two hitters to load the bases with no-one out.  Sean Henn was called on to replace Mills and he gave up a two run single to the first hitter and Las Vegas trailed 4-1.  Mills threw 97 pitched in his five plus innings and gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks with six K's.

The 51's only run came in the third on consecutive singles by Chris Aguila, Jarrett Hoffpauir and Brett Wallace.  Hoffpauir and Merchan were the only 51's with two hits.


Reading 3  New Hampshire 5 

Kyle Drabek had an odd start, he did not give up a hit until the fifth but he walked a batter in each of the first four innings.  Drabek gave up his first hit in the fifth, a solo home run, and he gave up another solo homer in the sixth.  Drabek pitched 7 innings, he allowed 4 hits, 4 walks and seven strikeouts, and gave up two runs.  Adrian Martin pitched the final two innings.

New Hampshire got three runs in the first inning, Darin Mastroianni singled, Adam Loewen walked and Brad Emaus hit a three run home run.  Adam Calderone doubled to lead off the second and scored on a sac fly by Mastroianni.  Eric Thames and Loewen added solo home runs.

The Fisher Cats had nine hits, eight of the nine starters had a hit, Emaus had two.


Dunedin 2  Lakeland 1 - 10 innings

Each team scored in the first inning then no-one scored until the tenth.  Dunedin's run in the first came when Raul Barron doubled in Tyler PastornickyAndrew Liebel was on the mound for the Jays and he gave up one run over six innings.  Liebel was followed by Dan DeLucia, Alan Farina, Boomer Potts and Matt Daly.  Each pitched a shutout inning.

The winning run in the tenth came on a ground out by Pastornicky which scored Sean Shoffit who had led off the inning with a triple.

Dunedin had eight hits, Shoffit, Barron and Dan Perales had two each.


Fort Wayne 10  Lansing 4

This game was close until the eighth when Fort Wayne scored eight.  Dustin Antolin hit the first batter of the eighth then gave up three hits while getting one out.  He was replaced by Brian Slover.  The first five hitters he faced recorded hits until he finally got two outs.  Aaron Loup got the spot start and gave up two runs in for innings.  Scott Gracey pitched three shutout innings.

Lansing scored their first run in the second, Sean Ochinko singled and scored on a fielders choice.  In the sixth Ryan Schimpf doubled in Brad Glenn and Ochinko and Schimpf scored on a single by Balbino FuenmayorOchinko, Fuenmayor and Kenny Wilson had two hits each.


Three Stars

3rd star - Kyle Drabek
2nd star - Sean Shoffit
1st star - Brad Emaus

Emaus Plus Drabek Equals Win | 17 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
92-93 - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 01:23 PM EDT (#214448) #
LugnutFan, if you're reading this, I'd appreciate your thoughts on Sobolewski, defense included. Granted he's 23 and repeating A, but I was wondering if there's any potential there, and if maybe he could skip over Ahrens and Dunedin and take over the everyday job at NH.
Mike Green - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 01:45 PM EDT (#214449) #
Drabek went 7 innings, Gerry. 

Hoffpauir and Emaus both went 2-3 with a walk, and keep pushing their W/K rates into Wade Boggs territory.  Pastornicky stole 3 bases, in addition to a walk, a hit and the GWRBI on the 10th inning groundout.  Productive outs don't usually do it for me, but I'll make an exception for the 10th inning...

China fan - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 01:54 PM EDT (#214451) #
Bowman was at 3B and Emaus at 2B yesterday.   Is this the new configuration?  Anyone know why?  I would have thought that Emaus, being two years younger than Bowman, would be the better prospect and therefore would be the best candidate for the Jays position-of-future-need, which is 3B.    Is it because Bowman is better defensively at 3B?  Is it because Bowman will shortly be promoted to AAA and is only displacing Emaus from 3B for a few games?  Some other explanation?
Gerry - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 02:05 PM EDT (#214452) #

Thanks Mike.

Bowman might only be able to play third, Emaus can play both.  Bowman has AAA experience so he could be stopping off on his way to AAA.  Or Emaus could earn a promotion.  Emaus played third base a couple of years ago so he has to just get back to reacqauinting himself with the position rather than learning it from scratch.

China fan - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 02:18 PM EDT (#214453) #
Thanks, Gerry.   Will be interesting to see if it is Bowman or Emaus who gets the AAA call first.  The release of Christian Colonel seemed to pave the way for one of those two to be promoted.  Another option, however, is to keep Hoffpauir at 3B.   Nice to have some depth at 3B in the minors now, but will one of them seize the opportunity and run with it?
TamRa - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 02:34 PM EDT (#214454) #
Emaus has played third a game or two since Bowman arrived, with Bowman DHing.

Practically, I think Bowman will end up at AAA first BUT if I had my way, I'd like to see Emaus playing third in AAA as soon as the suits think pratical, and yes, I too am attracted to the idea of skipping Sobo over Aherns at some point but i assume that wouldn't come until mid-season or so.



Mike Green - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 02:56 PM EDT (#214455) #
Emaus has drawn two more walks today, one of them in front of Eric Thames' fifth homer of the season, as the Fisher Cats are ahead 4-0 in the middle innings.  It's nice to see signs of Thames' power returning, even if it is a short poke for a left-handed hitter in New Hampshire.
TamRa - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 03:29 PM EDT (#214457) #
I am intrigued at Thames' recent hot streak, sample size aside.


uglyone - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 04:43 PM EDT (#214458) #
both of Thames' dingers today apparently were dead straightaway centre shots.
Gerry - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 04:46 PM EDT (#214459) #

With one game in the books I have already written my lede for tomorrows MLU.  Here it is:

New Hampshire took a 5-1 lead into the ninth inning Saturday and with Tim Collins and Danny Farquhar in the bullpen it was game over, right?  Not so fast.  Collins was touched for three runs and Farquhar for five to put the Fisher Cats down 9-5 heading to the bottom of the ninth.  Game over, right?  Not so fast.  Eric Thames hit a three run home run, his second, followed shortly thereafter by a two run walk-off home run by Adam Calderone.  The fans in Manchester got their money's worth with this game.

mamboon - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 05:11 PM EDT (#214460) #

Hey, China, Gerry and WillRain.  Thanks for your posts, but not so fast on Bowman.  He's got a way to go to earn his Blue Jay stripes and return to AAA.  He's played 7 games at AA and A+ and he's committed 5 errors.  Not the type of defensive prowess that the 51s are after, especially after they released 9 error Christian Colonel.  And Bowman's stike out percentage is 20+% (6 in 28 at bats) and that's at AA and A+ pitching, and he's batting .235 at AA.  Granted that is all on a small sample, but paving his way to AAA is premature at this point.

Mike Green - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 07:24 PM EDT (#214461) #
Pastornicky hit his first homer of the season, and Huggins has got a shutout going through 4 innings for Dunedin. 

After a dreadful start, Pastornicky has his OBP near .400, and his slugging percentage near .425.  Not bad at all for a 20 year old speedy shortstop in the FSL.

Gerry - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 07:42 PM EDT (#214462) #

Kevin Gray at the Union-Leader talks with Kyle Drabek in his "On Baseball" column.

New Hampshire pitching coach, Tom Signore, seeks to refine Drabek's delivery, a job akin to steadying the steering wheel of a Ferrari. Drabek issued five walks against Trenton and still won. Any control issues are attributed to "occasionally getting off-line with his head, causing him to open up that front shoulder and pull a few pitches," explained Signore. "Stuff-wise, he's got everything you could ask for out of a No. 1 or No. 2 (starter). Our job is to get him throwing pitches where he wants."

 

TamRa - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 10:05 PM EDT (#214463) #
Hey, China, Gerry and WillRain.  Thanks for your posts, but not so fast on Bowman.  He's got a way to go to earn his Blue Jay stripes and return to AAA.  He's played 7 games at AA and A+ and he's committed 5 errors.  Not the type of defensive prowess that the 51s are after, especially after they released 9 error Christian Colonel.  And Bowman's stike out percentage is 20+% (6 in 28 at bats) and that's at AA and A+ pitching, and he's batting .235 at AA.  Granted that is all on a small sample, but paving his way to AAA is premature at this point.

Don't misunderstand - I HOPE i'm wrong in that prediction. My assumption was that he was claimed with the idea he'd be the AAA placeholder until someone with actual promise came along.

No one should think I find him interesting in any way. I'm a big fanboy of Emaus and the sooner he's at 3B in Vegas the happier i'll be.


TamRa - Saturday, May 01 2010 @ 11:20 PM EDT (#214464) #
kind of shocking for Collins to be touched for 3 runs two nights in a row.
Lugnut Fan - Monday, May 03 2010 @ 07:01 AM EDT (#214481) #

Sorry 92-93, wasn't reading until this morning.  As far as Sobolewski, I would put him ahead of Ahrens right now.  It is hard to get a read on whether or not Sobolewski is a true prospect simply because he is over aged for this league.  That being said, the Blue Jay brass did put him back in Lansing presumably because Ahrens is in Dunedin.

I think Sobolewski could and should be moved to the FSL by the MWL all star break.

92-93 - Monday, May 03 2010 @ 05:55 PM EDT (#214523) #
Thanks LF. I assume SoboCop is hurt, because he hasn't played since Apr23.
Emaus Plus Drabek Equals Win | 17 comments | Create New Account
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